Waterfall near China border to host tourism festival

Ban Gioc Waterfall in Cao Bang Province near the border with China is one of the most beautiful sights in Vietnam. Photo by Shutterstock/Minh Trung.

The Ban Gioc Waterfall Festival’s third edition will be celebrated October 5-6 in Cao Bang Province on the border with China.

Ban Gioc is the largest waterfall in Southeast Asia and the world’s fourth largest along a national border, after the Iguazu Falls, Victoria Falls and Niagara Falls.

Visitors to the festival can join a water procession ceremony to pray for a bumper crop and good weather at the Phat Tich Truc Lam Pagoda, and a festival of lights at the bottom of Ban Gioc Waterfall.

Culinary and other specialties of communes and towns in Trung Khanh District will also be introduced during the festival, together with photo exhibitions and cultural performances by ethnic minority groups.

Visitors will be invited to join locals in common folk games including tug of war, sack race, catching ducks blindfolded and peeling chestnuts.

Last April, Microsoft network MSN included Ban Gioc in its list of 15 most charming cascades in the world.

The waterfall is part of the UNESCO-recognized Non Nuoc Cao Bang geopark whose collection of fossil, sediment, volcanic rocks and karst landscape is believed to illustrate 500 million years of the earth’s history.

U.S. news site Insider last July included the geopark among 50 most breathtaking sights in the world.

In the first seven months of this year, Cao Bang welcomed more than 87,000 foreign tourists, up 86 percent from a year ago. It earned VND198.5 billion ($8.6 million) in tourism revenues during this period.

Due to its proximity to the Chinese border, the northern province always attracts large numbers of tourists from China, the biggest feeder market for Vietnam’s tourism.